Transit — Here It Is

So Kamp decided to throw his name into the hat for the Madison Metro Transit general manager opening and when he was offered the position they began planning their move, but that also meant moving their entire family.

"At the time [our son] was a little hesitant to move. I moved while I was in high school and it was a hard move for me, but I didn't have a choice. My dad got transferred and so he would have lost his job otherwise," Kamp says.

Kamp says his son had a couple conditions — helping choose the house they would move to and moving to a school district he knew somebody in — but one thing led to another and they moved.

"And if anything our greatest fear of moving — my son's transition — was the least of our fears because he has built social networks quicker than us.

"He now tells us this is one of the best things he's ever done — to actually do the move and understand it's not such a scary thing, it's actually an opportunity."

Small Town, Big City

With his experience working in both the nation?s capital and now Wisconsin's state capital, I wondered if there were any similarities between the two locations.

"There really are a lot of similarities," Kamp says.

Using the Yogi Berra quote, our differences are similar, Kamp says that's how he feels about the two capitals, they are different, but they're similar.

"Madison has a smaller town feel, but it has big city benefits like top-rate entertainment, a top-rate university. Interesting things you can be involved with at the university that my wife and I are just learning about.

"It's easier to do those things in a smaller community I think, but the community is very politically involved. [It] has a cultural environmental stewardship being the home of Aldo Leopold who established the arboretum as part of the [University of Wisconsin]."

Transit-Oriented Development

Madison's environmental stewardship has grown to be a natural part of development around Metro Transit. Kamp says the city is beginning to see more transit-oriented development and compared to other communities its size, it is well ahead of the curve.

"There is a new development called the Sequoia Commons that is taking a kind of a strip mall which was one story and is building a mixed-use, four- or five-story development with residential, library, shopping, coffee shops. That's very much TOD and it's right at the intersection of our Route 6 and Route 18," Kamp says.

Kamp says there is dramatic development being done in an area that he calls the grey bar, "Wherever there is a grey bar [on our system map] there are so many bus routes we can't put all of the different colors."

This development based around Hilldale Mall includes residential, commercial and mixed-used developments all occurring along the grey bar corridor.

"So yes there is transit-oriented development occurring," Kamp says.

?It?s happening faster than communities our size. I can?t compare it to D.C., but it is true that in places with light rail that there is a history of really intense transit-oriented development and we?re having [that].

"I wouldn't say it's as intense as in communities with rail, but this area is so committed to transit."

Regional Transit Authority

Part of that commitment is a plan to create a regional transit authority (RTA). Currently, RTAs with regional taxing structures and regional governing boards are not allowed in Wisconsin. To create one there has to be enabling legislation created. Voters in the county in which Metro Transit operates, Dane County, want an RTA, but several surrounding communities aren't so sure.

Kamp says there is a legislative study counsel that has been created by the state legislature to study the formation of RTAs and the legislation needed to provide the statutory authority for their creation. He acknowledges that as the first step. The second step would be how the RTAs would be formed.

"There are many ways you can form an RTA. And while this is being worked out, the local communities can work on, well are we comfortable with a particular tax.
?And I would say locally, if there is a tax that?s going to be used, it seems then it?s moving in the direction of a sales tax,? Kamp says.